A Botched Reincarnation
by NeonFury
Summary: Death had promised Harry that he would be reincarnated as a young child in the world of pirates and Devil Fruits so he could take a break. What he didn't expect was for Death to screw up. Kizaru just wanted to know what was happening. He did not need reappearing sticks, a strange man in his head, or Akainu breathing down his neck. AUish! Starts at Marineford.


**AN: Not entirely sure where this came from, but I hope you enjoy. Not sure if I should continue, but if there is an interest, I'll do my best. :) This takes place in the beginning of the Battle for Marineford and deviates from there.**

 **Warnings outside of rating: Terrible logic, bit of a: Plot? What Plot?**

Borsalino's day was not going so well. Actually, for that matter, this day was not going well for many others either. All around him, Marines stood with tense shoulders, trying to hide their apprehension while holding their rifles with death grips. Even he was more _aware_ than usual. It would not due to zone out at a time like this. Today was the day. The day where the world would change for the better or for the worst. Everyone around him was waiting with baited breath for the upcoming confrontation. For it was not a matter of _if_ , but of _when_ this battle would take place.

No one wanted to face Whitebeard and his crew.

Behind his sunglasses, Kizaru regarded Akainu, who sat rigidly next to him with his face set in grim determination, sure of their impending victory. The admiral would accept no less. Privately, Kizaru held his doubts. They might win, but at what cost? However, it was not his place to question despite his high rank. He carried out his tasks when required and that was all the superiors cared about. Sengoku might take their advice, but even he knew that they ultimately answered to a much higher authority.

Kizaru had long ago learnt that it was better to adopt a laissez-faire attitude. It was better that way. Besides, Akainu and Kuzan had more than enough opinions for the three of them. It also helped that, often, he genuinely _did not care_. He had stopped caring about things a long time ago. His inattentiveness and general carelessness was more a result of his Devil Fruit than his original personality. Though, even he had to admit, he had a bit of a tendency to be absentminded before his fruit made it much worse. It was hard to pay attention when his thoughts went by at the speed of light. Slowing himself down was a lot harder than it looked. Furthermore, pissing off Sentomaru had to be one of his favourite pastimes, even if it was not always intentional.

After a moment, he turned his attention back to the water. It was unnaturally quiet. The calm before the storm so to speak. He could almost hear Kuzan's thoughts about wishing to be anywhere but here, preferably napping in the shade on some remote island. He wished he could be doing the same thing. Today was not a good day.

Unfortunately, this imminent confrontation was not why he was having a bad day. Oh, he was sure that it would be a bothersome fight for him, but he would live. Probably. No, what he had was a migraine. It was in the back of his mind, almost like a high pitched shriek of white hot pain -a pressure that would not release itself. This, in itself, would have been fine. He had dealt with similar enough headaches before this. Except, this one had caused him to lose his sense of self when the pain had become overwhelming during the last time it had appeared, which was shortly after he had dealt with the fiasco in Sabaody Archipelago. He had forgotten who and where he was before he had passed out, luckily, while he was still confused within his quarters. No one had seen him.

When he had woken up, thankfully headache free aside from a mild throb, a strange stick had appeared before him on the floor by his face. It had been a rather strange looking stick with carvings in the wood. The oddity of it had been more than enough reason for him to desire to be rid of it so he had tossed it out without too much more thought put towards it. That relieved his headache completely. Only, it kept on appearing every morning after he had tossed it, broken it, and even burned it once. It was always accompanied by a headache, which appeared each time his gaze was drawn to the stick.

He had kept those events hidden from the others. As a man in his fifties, he did not need mysterious headaches and magically appearing sticks plaguing him, but neither did he want to be scrutinised by brilliant mad scientists and doctors. He had already been a lab rat to Sentomaru and his lot once over his Glint-Glint Fruit and had no desire to be in a similar situation again, willing or otherwise. Though, he did have to admire how Vegapunk had adapted his powers into the form of laser blasts for the Pacifista. It was truly a scientific marvel those lasers.

Too make matter worse, the stick had reappeared again this very morning. Except, this time, it had not been alone on his nightstand. The stick had been innocently resting next to a strange ring by his sunglasses. He had not bothered to toss them this time, preferring to deal with other more important matters such as Ace's execution. He had steadfastly ignored the odd feeling of familiarity with the objects. A feeling that had not been there before. Though, that was in part due to the recurrence of his migraine when he had sighted them. He had not had one since the very first one, but now it was back with a vengeance.

Suddenly, the battle alarm broke Kizaru out of his thoughts. He flinched in pain, drawing the interrogative and somewhat disapproving glare of Akainu. Kizaru ignored it in favour of realising that he had been staring out at ships from the New World for a little while without registering them. So much for not spacing out. He had never been one to keep focus for long periods of time. All around him, marines tensed, a sense of fear washing over the area. Absently, he noted someone calling the more junior marines a bunch of cowards as one marine with a spyglass shouted out the names of the New World pirate ships' captains despairingly.

Kizaru, himself, felt no fear. What would be, would be. His headache causing him to pass out was a far bigger threat to him than some pirates, even if these pirates new of Haki. He was not an admiral for show.

His attention was drawn to a faint noise coming from underwater. Could it be? Could Whitebeard be underwater? About to breach the outer defence? Or, more likely, already inside? A part of him was impressed even as the others shrank back in fear as suddenly the massive form of the Mobi Dick surfaced followed by three other massive ships. He leaned forward in his chair as Whitebeard enquired after his "beloved son," Ace. He did not listen to Sengoku's response, instead choosing to scrutinise the assembled pirates. It was an impressive display to see so many pirates working together. He doubted that it would last. Akainu was already scheming beside him. Undoubtedly already working on a way to turn pirate against pirate.

Whitebeard was activating his Devil Fruit, Kizaru dispassionately noted while watching the cracks of reality form around the man's hands. He continued to watch as the sea around them distorted and two giant waves formed on either side of Marineford, going the wrong way. He was not worried. It was events like these that Kuzan was best suited for dealing with. In fact, witnessing the power of Whitebeard was almost making him excited. Not many people got to be witness to it anymore. Now, if only his headache would go away.

Ace was shouting out to Whitebeard, crying as to why they came for him for it was his fault that he left the pirates in the first place. As Whitebeard replied, Kizaru realised just how he had banded together all those pirate crews. Whitebeard was taking the blame. Clever. Ace, of course, tried to deny this only to be stopped by Whitebeard and his crew once again.

The amount of morale the pirates were showing was a little concerning as they screamed and cheered about rescuing their Second Division Commander. Resignedly, he decided that there was no escaping the blood bath this was about to become. Kuzan put voice to Kizaru's idle pondering,

"We brought this upon ourselves."

Akainu, cheerful as ever, replied, "It's too late to say such a thing."

Those two truly were unable to agree upon anything, even in a time like this. It was unbelievable sometimes. He threw in his two cents by drawling out, "It's so hideous," and earned a glare from the Magma-Magma Fruit user. There was no winning with those two around. Please one and anger the other.

Whitebeard was looking smugger than he was a few minutes ago. This did not bode well. Sure enough, the water started to rise and Kizaru realised the true power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit as a Tsunami of unequalled proportions appeared. Marines shouted out in terror as Sengoku shouted that victory was not assured for Whitebeard had the power to destroy the world. ' _A great motivational speech.'_ Really _._

The marine force was paralyzed with fear as the tsunami approached. The laughing of Whitebeard carried through the air and Kizaru continued to watch with fascination even as the pounding of his headache worsened. Kuzan, as expected, jumped up to freeze the water with Ice Age, earning many surprised comments from Marines and pirates alike. It barely got a glance from the two Admirals remaining seated. As expected, Kuzan then attacked Whitebeard with his ice only to be sent, in pieces, to the water below.

It was unsurprising to Kizaru when the water froze over, trapping the ships below. It would be rather unbecoming of an Admiral if Kuzan had died in such a pathetic way. The ice, however, opened up a path for the pirates to cross onto land. Soon, cannons were firing along with the cry of steel on steel and from wounded men from both sides of the battle as the marines struggled to keep the pirates from reaching the shore.

Kizaru continued to watch from his perch above the battle. So far, he had felt little inclination to join the fight. Everything seemed to be going as expected. His keen eyes spotted Hawk-Eye preparing to fight amongst the other Warlords of the Sea.

"How unusual…" he murmured.

He only half listened to Akainu's response as he waited excitedly to see what the greatest swordsman would do. Like Whitebeard, it was a rare day when the swordsman fought. It was an even rarer day when he used his famous black sword. Hawk-Eye swung his blade almost nonchalantly in front of him. A violent green wave of force rushed out from the end of the swordsman's swing, racing towards Whitebeard at incredible speeds.

The green light hurt his eyes.

It was a strange realization, considering that he was made of light and, therefore, he could stare at the sun and not have the light hurt or blind him. Yet, his eyes burned looking at this light. None of the others seemed to have an issue staring at the vicious streak of green and, yet, he did. His head was pounding even harder now. The pain started becoming more than he could ignore as the Third Division Commander stepped in and redirected Hawk-Eye's attack. As the green light spiralled up and up, his vision wavered, causing him to rest his head in his right hand lest he lose consciousness in front of the other Admiral. A wave of nausea passed over him and then went away as quickly as it had come. He closed his eyes, tried to regain composure, and opened them to find out the battle had progressed without his awareness. His head still pounded, but now it was in time with the artillery fire rather than its own tune. He was not sure that was any better than before, but at least his headache was no longer threatening to overwhelm him like before. At least, temporarily.

Luckily, Akainu gave no indication of noticing Kizaru's lapse in situational awareness. He, in all probability, considered it to 'be par for the course' with Kizaru. They had known each other for a long time after all.

He sat up, trying to gain his bearing and observing the pirates. The commanders had sliced, diced, and bashed their way quite a bit father into Marineford than he had expected. How long had he been out of it? Akainu was still sitting impassively beside him so nothing too serious had to have occurred.

"Those commanders…they're like monsters," he observed, sounding just as detached as he felt. They were tearing into the marines like they were nothing and, while you could not exactly say that he cared about the marines personally, he was not like the heartless bastard beside him either. A good third of them fell under his jurisdiction. He was responsible for them in a way.

It must have been because of the headache, but he decided to go through with a plan unlikely to succeed. A plan to attack Whitebeard directly even though the pirate most assuredly had someone to defend him. Kizaru just wanted this over. In part for the marines below him, but mostly because he wanted nothing more than to take some headache pills and go curl up in the dark somewhere so no one could bother him and see him as he, potentially, lost his mind. He would like to go insane without everyone in the peanut gallery knowing quite just yet. He was not sure how much longer he would be able to keep himself here, so to speak. It was starting to feel like last time. He may only have a few minutes before the next 'wave.'

He only needed a few minutes.

He left Akainu by himself and teleported above the pirates. Secretly, he enjoyed the cries of terror bellow him, even if it did not show on his face because he was too busy fighting off another surge of searing pain from teleporting. He hated pirates. Hoping for the best, he crossed his arms before him and calmly stated,

"Yasakani Sacred Jewel!"

As beads of light rained down from him towards his target, his head worsened again much to his disgruntlement. It became hard to focus as one of Whitebeard's pirates leapt in and took the brunt of his attack. When he finished, he found his wavering gaze on a human covered in bright blue flames who had the audacity to grin back at him. First Division Commander Marco.

At the moment, he could not have cared less. Not even the brilliant blue flames, which healed Marco, were enough to rouse his curiosity as his vision swam and failed to focus once again. Distantly, as if through water, he heard Marco declare,

"You can't reach… the King… so easily!"

' _Thanks, Commander Obvious.'_ It had been a last ditch effort on his part anyways. Still, he couldn't help the sarcastic comment of, "So scary!" It sounded a bit slurred, almost like he was drunk. He could barely make out Marco as the man narrowed his eyes. The marines were muttering confusedly bellow them, so Kizaru took the chance to enlighten them while he still could.

"His Devil Fruit…. It's rarer than a Logia. A Mythical Zoan type…"

His vision came back to him as Marco was disappearing into his ball of blue flame, becoming a phoenix. He looked at it with curiosity, pushing aside the throbbing in his head.

"I have never seen a bird like that."

Never let it be said that he did not speak what was on his mind. Almost as an afterthought, he prepared to defend himself from Marco's attack, by once again crossing his arms before him.

"Yasakani Sacred Jewel!"

Even with this strange migraine of his, he would not be seen going down without a fight. A wave of pain swept his vision away as the nausea returned once again. Thankfully, his target was heading directly for him and his attack did not require precision. Instinct caused him to release his attack, but before he could bring an arm up to defend himself from his unseen assailant, who he could feel above him, he felt something _appear_ in his pocket. Naturally, his curiosity got the better of him and reached down to find out what was poking his leg. Just as his hand connected with the familiar smooth wood of the stick, Marco's kick landed on his shoulder. He did not notice any pain, but what he did feel was too hot. Too constricted as lights danced behind his eyes. His nausea built up, threatening to cause him to be sick.

"What is wrong with you?" he heard Marco ask.

He did not get a chance to respond as his body scattered into light.

He did not know where he was. His body felt insubstantial. Almost as if it was not real. He tried to look at his hands, but found that he could not. He then tried to look around, but he could see nothing. Just light. Endless light.

His head no longer hurt.

 _Wait_. How did he know it had hurt in the first place?

Something was wrong. Shouldn't he know who he was? _Where_ he was?

Something was pressing against him. Not physically, mentally. It seemed oddly familiar and, yet, foreign at the same time. It was like looking at a childhood friend for the first time after not seeing them for years and years. It was unsettling.

Green eyes were suddenly watching him. Eyes that seemingly had no body.

Shouldn't he be afraid? He tried to reach out to them. Maybe they would know what was going on? The pressure from the mental force increased and he felt, quite ludicrously, constricted, considering his body was nowhere to be found. He was pretty sure that he was supposed to have a form. A human body.

"Who are you?"

A figure appeared. Those unnerving eyes belonged to someone. They spoke, sounding as confused as him.

"Harry Potter. Who, or what, are you?"

The question perplexed him. No name came to mind -just a mental image of a yellow suit... and yellow sunglasses.

"I am human, why?"

At least, he was pretty sure of that. He did not have any real evidence to prove that at this moment. The stranger came closer, revealing a short man with a mop of messy black hair and a pair of out of date looking prescription glasses. He was dressed oddly in a pair of robes. The man was frowning at him.

"Are you sure about that? You don't seem like it to me. How did you find me?"

He felt a little indignant at that. His head was starting to hurt again.

"I don't know. One minute, I was," an image flashed before him before fading away, "I was…. fighting? Then I found myself here. Lost. Almost like last time."

…Last time?

Harry seemed less than impressed, "Bloody hell, did you lose your memory? Death really did screw up this time. Did you come across a wand?"

An image of a carved stick came to him. That and a ring. They were surprisingly easy to recall.

"Yes, I did. A ring also. They were… following me. Are they important?"

Harry sighed, stuffing his hands into his jean pockets.

"You could say that they belonged to me. They were supposed to go to my reincarnation."

Disbelief flooded him. Obviously, it appeared that he did not believe in such a thing. Before he could get a word in, Harry continued in that odd accent of his,

"Well, actually, reincarnation is a bit of a loose term. You see, you weren't supposed to _remember_ who you were when my wand appeared. You were supposed to just _become_ me. I was supposed to absorb all that you were. Except, something went wrong. Several somethings."

An unfamiliar flash of fear went through him. The urge to get away nearly overwhelmed him. He wanted his body _now_. No way was this freak going to take it from him. He tried to focus on the yellow suit. Anything that could bring him back to what was, hopefully, normal. It was like having a broken hourglass with sand spilt everywhere and trying to collect all the needed grains of sand to put it all back together again. The immense effort drain him, but, eventually, he found his hands and arms reforming defensively out in front of him, coming together from the very light that surrounded them.

That's right. He was a Logia user, he recalled. With his body, information, if not memories, came back to him slowly. He still had no idea where he was, however. He had not physically disappeared the last time his headache had appeared.

Harry had not moved, but was now looking surprised up at him.

"Well, aren't you tall…? And _old._ "

Kizaru did not take offence to that. After all, he dealt with Garp on a daily basis and that man had no tact either. He seemed to think he was a spring chicken too. Kizaru declared in that odd cheerful manner of his,

"I am not just going to hand over my body to you, you little monster."

He had been alive too long and been through too much to give up that easily. Besides, he was an Admiral in the Marines and he would be damned if he allowed some pipsqueak to masquerade as him and ruin all that he had built. Harry threw up his hands in front of him in a placating manner. Quickly, he exclaimed,

"Oh no! I think I explained myself badly. As I said before, Death screwed up. My reincarnation in this realm was supposed to have died at a young age. I was just supposed to step in from that moment onwards. Obviously, you are very much alive, and not young, so something went wrong. Death is not very good at this. You see, Death never had someone collect all the Hallows before."

Kizaru blinked. Did he accidently take some drugs this morning? He had seen and heard some pretty surreal things in his life, but this was getting absurd.

"Hallows?"

A look of long suffering passed over the Potter boy.

"They're called the Deathly Hallows. There are three of them to be exact. A wand, a ring, and a cloak. Collect all three and you become Death's Master. Unfortunately, I collected all three due to some uncontrollable events where I was from. Becoming the Master of Death seems like a good deal until you outlive all your friends and then your children and their children. So I made a deal."

Harry paused. Kizaru examined him more closely than before, noting that he while he was physically young, his eyes seemed old. Tired even.

"The deal was that Death would allow me to die in my world. The price was that I would be sent to another realm where I would be needed. After I dealt with this new issue, Death would leave me in peace for a few years."

Yes, Kizaru decided, he had definitely taken drugs unawares. Perhaps at breakfast? He was often accused of doing such a thing, but, in reality, he had never partaken in anything beyond tobacco. He did not want to see the effect they had on his mind when his Logia made him so spaced out already. Harry continued on,

"Obviously, you're the me of this world. The Hallows would not have appeared before you otherwise. Tell me, how did they feel?"

Feel? He had been struggling to keep his attention focused, having been distracted by the consideration of drugs, but the question dragged his wondering thoughts back to the matter at hand.

"Like a wooden stick."

At Harry's exasperated look, Kizaru reluctantly admitted about the migraine that had plagued him when it had first appeared and the one he had been suffering with minutes before. Potter looked intrigued at that and murmured,

"It's interesting that they reacted to you so badly. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it has something to do with your light? Is that interfering with their magic? Or is it because I am not yet you and vice versa?"

Harry looked up at him as if he had all the answers hidden away somewhere in his sleeve. It was strange to be looked at in such a way. If someone wanted answers, Kizaru was generally not the person that one went to. Most figured that it was far safer to try Aokiji first. Kizaru was considered a bit of a wild card. No one bothered with Akainu. Not if they wanted to come away unscathed.

"Perhaps it is because of my Devil Fruit or 'light,' as you say. Nobody can have two Devil Fruit powers."

"But my magic is not one of those Devil Fruits!" Harry cried back at him. That left them at a bit of an impasse. A moment of silence passed by and Kizaru recalled that he was supposed to be helping the marines execute Ace. He mentioned as such to the other man, but received little more than a dismissive hand wave.

"Neither of us can leave here. Trust me, I tried."

Kizaru frowned, an expression that he was unused to sporting. He saw no reason to doubt the little monster before him. All around them was an empty expanse. There was not even a surface that they were standing on. His Devil Fruit would not be useful here. He doubted that killing him would help either. Several more moment passed and Kizaru was starting to crave a cigarette. It had been a long time since he had given up smoking, but the urge to smoke often came back in situations that bothered him. As rare as that was.

Out of the blue, Harry sat down and started drawing pictures before him. Considering that he had nothing to draw on or with, Kizaru was quite impressed when images appeared to float before the man. It was writing in no language that he could read. He leaned down towards it, examining it as Harry underlined a few passages.

"What are you up to?"

Harry did not look up as he responded, "Just writing down what I remember. It's easier for me to look at a problem that I'm thinking about. Otherwise, I might not see the whole picture and that's given me enough difficulties in the past. Did you see a cloak anywhere?"

Kizaru responded with a negative.

"So, there was just my ring and wand? Where did you last see them?"

Instinctively, his hand went to his pants pocket. He had not expected to find anything there, seeing as he did not appear to be in any physical realm and had not considered the Hallows when he had reformed his body. Yet, his hand closed around the wand. He pulled it out along with the ring. Harry glanced at them, but made no move to grasp them himself.

"I'm surprised that they followed you here. By the way, what is your name? You did not remember it when I had asked earlier."

"I am Admiral Kizaru."

Harry made an offhand comment about that being a strange name and went back to rereading what he had written. Kizaru could have said the same thing about Harry's name, but refrained from doing so. After a second, Harry looked back up at Kizaru, waved away his writing, and stood up again.

"I think I figured it out. Death was trying to send all three Hallows at once, but they were unable to come to you all at the same time. Their… my world's magic is foreign to yours and it was met with resistance coming to you. I think that the magic trying to locate you has been causing those migraines of yours. It has been trying to overwrite you at the same time, but it cannot for you are the rightful owner of your body. I think that's what is happening because I have had the same issue back on Earth. Every time a Hallow disappeared, I became incredibly ill and lost who I was. That's how I ended up here with you. Unlike you, I didn't become insubstantial. Is that what your Devil Fruit does? It turns you into light?"

Harry reached into his pocket. His hand disappeared as well as half of his arm, causing Kizaru to make a noise of surprise. A pocket that was bigger on the inside! Today was a day full of exciting things. Harry continued talking,

"Now, if I am correct, my cloak is still in here. I think this will solve our current problem."

Out of his pocket, Harry produced a beautiful silvery cloak. Kizaru resisted the urge to touch it, unsure of what would happen if he did. Harry carefully held it out between them while saying,

"I think that you need to take this and, once you do, it will be all over."

He cast a mistrustful gaze towards Harry.

"And what will happen once I do take it? I disappear, is that it? You get to take over?"

If that was the price then no deal. He would rather be stuck here for eternity. At least here he would not have to listen to Sakazuki and Aokiji bickering. Harry frowned.

"I don't think that is what will happen. You can't just cease to exist. For me to take over, I'd have to kill you first and I am not about to become what I had strived to be rid of all my life. Perhaps, if anything, I will cease to be. Or you'll be stuck with me in your head. At the very least, I think you'll gain my magic."

That did not sound too appealing to Kizaru either. He was not sure if this magic would kill him anyways seeing as he already had his fruit, nor did it sound great to have an annoying inner voice tagging along for the ride. Still, it was not like he had any family that he would have to report this development too. The marines would find out eventually, but he might be able to put that off for a little while.

He stood there, indecisive. Before he could finalize a decision, Harry tossed the cloak towards him, exclaiming,

"Neither of us have time to sit around here so let's get this over with!"

As the cloak settled over Kizaru's head, the world disappeared. He awoke to rough shaking and Akainu's enraged face very, very close to his own.

"And just what the fuck do you think you are doing, Kizaru, disappearing in the middle of a war!"

He barely had time to register what was being said to him when a voice asked inside his mind,

" _Who is this arsehole?"_

Just great.


End file.
